C-Band GaN Dual-Feedback Low-Noise Amplifier MMIC with High-Input Power Robustness

• Published in: Journal of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 678 - 685
• Main Authors: Sung, Ha-Wuk, Han, Seong-Hee, Kim, Seong-Il, Ahn, Ho-Kyun, Lim, Jong-Won, Kim, Dong-Wook
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 한국전자파학회JEES 01.11.2022; The Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• Subjects: gan hemt; gate-drain shunt feedback; inductive source degeneration; low-noise amplifier; mmic; Inductive Source Degeneration; Gate-Drain Shunt Feedback; GaN HEMT; MMIC; Low-Noise Amplifier
• ISSN: 2671-7255; 2671-7263
• DOI: 10.26866/jees.2022.6.r.137

In this paper, using the 0.2 μm ETRI GaN HEMT process, we developed a C-band GaN dual-feedback low-noise amplifier MMIC for an RF receiver module that requires high-input power robustness. By applying a feedback microstrip line at the source of the transistor and series resistor-capacitor (RC) feedback between the gate and the drain of the transistor, we obtained stable amplifier operation and a compromised impedance trace for both input impedance matching and noise matching while suppressing performance degradation of the maximum available gain and minimum noise figure. The developed low-noise amplifier MMIC, which implements simple matching circuits by using biasing elements as matching elements, had a linear gain of more than 21.4 dB and a noise figure of less than 1.91 dB in the wide bandwidth of 4.3–7.4 GHz. Under the single-tone power test, the low-noise amplifier MMIC had an output P1dB of 14.3–20.1 dBm, and the two-tone intermodulation distortion measurement exhibited an input third-order intercept point (IIP3) of 2.2–5.6 dBm in the same frequency range as the above.